Monday, June 18, 2012

Chaotic Initiative (Pathfinder Rule)

OK, just
another random idea. Instead of rolling Initiative at the beginning of a combat encounter,
use the following rules:

When a
combat starts, declare the First Round and ask each player to declare his
intended action for
that Round. You must also define, beforehand, the intended Action of each NPC involved,
just don’t tell them to the players yet. Actually, if you group doesn’t mind
it, I suggest that each
one writes his Action on a small piece of paper.

After everyone
is ready, all intended Actions are revealed and the characters roll their dice simultaneously.

Who
hits/acts first is determined only AFTER the d20 is rolled.

The
Gamemaster uses the d20 to establish if the intended Action was successful and
also how when it was
accomplished.

For
example, suppose that you rolled a 15 for your Fighter’s attack on the d20.
You’ll use the 15 for your
attack roll, adding all the usual modifiers (BAB, Str bonus, any item bonus
etc), but you’ll also
use this 15 to determine your Initiative for that round. Usually, this means
that your Fighter
will add his Dexterity modifier to the rolled number (15). If he had Improved
Initiative, he’d add
his Dex modifier + 4.

The idea is
add some chaos to the usual static/tactic-heavy Pathfinder combat. The concept isn’t new
and was shameless stolen from the ORE (One Roll Engine) rules – a RPG system
used in great
games like Godlike and Wild Talents.

A few extra
guidelines:

Extra
attacks – If you’re attacking more than once, then your first d20 also
determines when all
your secondary attacks take place in the Round. You still have to roll those
attacks, following
the normal rules.

Actions
that don’t require a roll – Sometimes your intended Action is simply to move,
pick something
etc. These actions don’t require a roll (usually). In situations like these
roll a d20 just to
determine when you act.

I haven’t
playtest this yet, but it may be an interesting alternative for lethal/grimdark
games. It also makes
things harder for spellcasters, which may suit some Gamemasters.

About Me

My name is José Luiz. I’m a brazilian GM, (occasional) RPG blogger and (ex-) writer. I’m a fan of fantasy, science fiction, horror, historical and Weird literature and cinema. That’s all that matters for this profile I guess.